fredbob

Which year is this from?! Love this shirt. Where could I get one?

What a load of nonsense. Not really, reckon Rafa and Djokovic dream of playing Baghdatis and Phillipoussis in Grand Slam finals. For the record the tennis analogy was only small part of a much larger point but for the sakes of argument, Im sure they'd be be having wet ones at the thought of playing Martin, Ivanisevic and Chang - just to cherry pick a few finalists to make a point. Assuming you take Sampras as the greatest ever. No I don't take Sampras as the greatest ever.

What a load of nonsense. Not really, reckon Rafa and Djokovic dream of playing Baghdatis and Phillipoussis in Grand Slam finals. For the record the tennis analogy was only small part of a much larger point but for the sakes of argument, Im sure they'd be be having wet ones at the thought of playing Martin, Ivanisevic and Chang - just to cherry pick a few finalists to make a point. Assuming you take Sampras as the greatest ever.

What a load of nonsense.

For me its down to what you define "greatest" as. Messi isnt quite there because he hasnt left some kind of footballing legacy on the game (obviously at such a young age I wouldnt expect him to either), all the players mentioned in the OP have in one way or another. World Cup is generally the acid test because its the pinnacle of the sporting achievment, it invokes all the elements of a legacy for a nation which is time proof. Obviosuly there are players like Best which are considered the greatest ever becasue they were part of a footballing dynasty, much like Di Stefano was with Madrid, its all part of footballing legend. If we were to translate this into another sport, Roger Federer was dominating the sports with consumate ease during his pomp yet very few classed him as the greatest as at the time his legend wasn't complete or near completion, even though it was clear that he was, I'm sure it will be the same with Messi, but only in a few years time. For me he is best player on the planet and one the the best 5 Ive ever seen, at the moment though. Xavi is the player who currently encapsulates greatness for me, up there with Zidane with how he dominates games. In my opinion.

For the record, Barton has carved a decent career out of being a CM, in an ideal world i'd love him to recapture the form he had playing in the centre like he did at Man City, he's been excellent as a wide midfielder but I'd love to see if he can do it in the centre. I still think he's got it in him to play as one of the 2 CM in a 442 but I'd ideally love to see him alongside tiote in a 4231 formation with the same kind of freedome he's allowed to get on the right.

Yeh, but they still exist so your point is invalid.

The obvious flaw in his comments being nobody at all is saying Nolan is without limitations. This entire discussion revolves around the very simple fact that when it comes to signing players this summer the replacement of Nolan doesnt even rank in the top 2/3 urgent issues. Its baffling that he cant see this yet choses to repeat rubbish that i havent even said. To be honest, from someone who thinks the best form of defence is attack I think you're both right in equal measures, we need both a striker and an attacking midfielder. Flatline is absolutely spot on about his remarks reagrding Nolan, however an attacking midfielders success is usually related to what he has in front of him. At the momnt we have no genuine focal point, nor do we have much insipred movement which is obviously where a new striker comes into play. For me, if we keep Nolan in the team, you may get 10 goals next season but you'll really affect the balance of the game due to his lack of mobility, or his lack of incivisness. Used this analogy earlier, but its like comparing the qualities of Owen to the qualities of Bellamy. For me there both equally imporatant acquisitions.

Mourinho had his choice of literally any player in the world to built his defence around. He chose John Terry, and endorsed that decision by making him captain a short time after getting the Chelsea job. Not sure why you're bringing Carvalho into it. What? Which part do you not understand? I mentioned Carvalho because we were comparing the two and in my opinion Carvalho (along with Cole) were better defenders than Terry. I've also explained that being made captain does not prove that Terry is the superior player so in that sense it is irrelevant. I am not denying Terry's charisma or ability to lead the team, I am however doubting your claim that he was one of the best defender in the last 6 years. To be fair, if we're talking the past 6 years starting from 2005 he's been given planty of indivudial accolades. Terry, like Ferdinand have been victims of there recent form, people tend to forget what they actually achieved and how good they actually were. Terry's was extremely highly rated amongst footballers who played against him. Think its a prety fair assesment to say he's been one of the best.

I think Dalgish has a "If you don't want to be here i don't care where you go" attitude tbh. We have lacked a CB, when Squillaci has had to come in he's been pretty bad, but if we had Djourou-Vermaelen all season (no hope, everybody get's injuried) we'd have enough with Kos a more than Adequate cover, it's if we lose both Djourou and Vermaelen (like now) we're screwed. Szczesny WILL be the Arsenal goalkeeper for many years to come, it's just if he's ready right now. I've always had a soft spot for Arsenal because of there attacking football and Wengers footballing philosophy. I always think that the best form of defence is attack, i know Arsenals winning teams in the past have been built on solid foundations wth the likes of Adams, Keown, Campbell and Toure being stalwarts in your title aspirations but I do think not enough is being made of your forward play. For me the last time Arsenal were a real force they had Pires, Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Henry even Wiltord. These were players who were all clincal in front of goal, its these players that havent been replaced in my opinion. Walcott/Arshavin/Fabregas/Van persie/Chamakh/Nasri/Bendtner they're all talented players but bwetween them you either have lack of contiuation due to injury or a distinct lack of "incisiveness" in front of goal. Or in some cases both. I genuinely think they'd benefit more from buying 2 or 3 players who were natural finishers than defenders and goalies.

Just dont completely buy into this supposed Goalkeeper and defence weakness that's costing Arsenal silverware, especially domestically, although i do think its a factor in the CL. Personally dont think Arsenal have been clinical enough infront of goal compared to previous seasons where they've challenged. In their pomp they always had an out an out goals scorer who'd bag 25-30 goals a season, but more importantly they'd have at least 3 or 4 other players who'd get you 15 goals a season as well. If you look at the players they have nowadays there is no out and out 25 goals striker as Persie is a permacrock and the supporting players just arent chipping as much as they should be. Obviously successful teams need a solid base, but the lack of 'critique' towards thier misfiring forward players highlights the fact that there seems to be a massive misconception that Arsenal are struggling mainly because of their goalkeeper and defence. It's becoming a bit of a cliche in my unbelievably well informed opinion and is simply not the answer to there problems.

The complaint seems to be that this is just propaganda on the part of the club to fool the fans into thinking that something positive is going to happen. I can't see that there's anything in Carr's statement to warrant that conclusion. He's not promising the earth. He's outlining the club's recruitment strategy and it all seemed realistic and sensible. The cynicism just strikes me as a knee-jerk reaction. On a related subject, in terms of the club's long-term financial strategy, the club have been quite open about it. (ie the statement about breaking even by a certain year) We've had more information than many other clubs give on that subject. Yet people still complain that the club won't communicate. Whingeing can become a habit. Ah, so you're referring to my suggestion then. It was only my opinion on the question binnsy asked, and I didn't actually mention that I thought it a negative thing. The club want everyone to believe that they know what they're doing, why wouldn't they? Everyone is aware Man Utd etc know what they're doing through their success. Our owners have understandably got a lot of outstanding cynicism and they want the fans (amongst others) to know they're going to use the Carroll money wisely. Tiote has been a huge success so it's completely fair that they want to point to that as proof of their policies being correct, including the ability of the scout that apparently spotted him. I can't see where I made this out to be a negative. If anything you're the one reading into my post wrongly and assuming I'm complaining. I never mentioned propaganda, never said he was promising the earth and never complained about communication. If you look at the first post I made in this thread you'll find I enjoyed the interview and wasn't negative about it in the slightest. You're whinging about my 'whinging'. An ambiguous opinion? Crikey, hard hitting stuff!

Only heard about him recently, origianally employed by SBR. Would be the kind of forward thinking managerial appointment that i could definintely get behind, apparently linked with the Liverpool job! Never seen a more dominant league table than the portugese one - Porto sitting on top with 62 points out of 66 having conceded only 7 goals all season. Plays attacking football as well. The boy done good.

Not sure if its been mentioned but the guy managing porto at the moment is looking like Mourihno II - André Villas Boas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Villas_Boas Unbelievalbe record at Porto at the moment, pretty unique story as well.

If only football was as simple as stats. Nolan has a fantastic ability to find himself in the right place at the right time, its a product of being a player who is more than happy to make late runs in the box making him difficult to mark and track. He's very much like Lampard in his willingness to support the strikers from a centralised position. There aren't many other central midfielders like that and that is a credit to him, my main bug with him is his contributions both directly and indirectly in our play, he isnt very mobile and doesnt attack space when he has the ball, rather holds it up and plays the simple ball, which is fine to a point but makes him relavtively innaffective up to a certain point on the field, he has no real incisiveness with his passing which doesnt put oppisiton under pressure, for me an attacking player needs to have that incivness whether it be his passing or the diretcness of his play. Its a bit like comparing Owen to someone like Bellamy, Owen may score the goals but he'll largely contribute fuck all to the team whereas Bellamy is the opposite, he'll not score bag loads but his general play is far more important to the function of the team. Personally id rather have a bellamy than an Owen and thats how i fell about Nolan.

A house made out of mud is still a house.

What a waste! Loved him, one player ive always wanted at Newcastle. There are not many players who i'd say are unplayable but he was definitely one of them on his day; whch were so few and far between. Would have been perfect for the english game anarl.

Barton and Jonas wont fit in that formation as wide men, I can see Barton playing as one of the '2' only with alot more creative freedom. It also depends on the dynamics of the game but the wide men play as midfiled-cum-strikers when we are holding possession always looking to make runs in the channels between the full back and CD, as well as linking up with the lone striker, should realisitically be lookking t get 8-10 goals a season in that role. Jonas is too conventional a winger to be applied to that role, isnt a great finisher wich is a big problem. Harper Simpson Colo Willo Enrique Barton Tiote RW Ireland Ben Arfa CF Is close to perfect.

Well this is the view i dont understand, you've said it yourself that more expnsive acquisitions are often correlated to the quality of the player. Well my argument which doesnt seem to be translating well in the posts is that these 'expensive acquisitions' weren't always expensive. It's really not rocket science. It's easier to find these expensive acquisitions because they're are in the p[ublic domain more because of their performances, but what the likes of Arsenal have been doing and what we're trying to do is find these quality players before they become mainstream. If the clubs is doing its job right, then we spend little money but get big players. I keep reading this £35m figure over and over again like it's a noose ready to hang the clubs neck with, I can guaratuee that many fans wont be objective enough to acknowledge a marked improvement in the squad, irrespective of cash spent.

Ok.

True but far less so than the other role, its also a role that is easier to coach. Not that i'm trying to draw too many comparison but Terry is a player who blossomed relatively late in his career when Mourihno came aboard if i remeber correctly, around the same age as Taylor is now. I still think it'd be naive to get rid "because he's shit." Also think the 'charger' role has alot to do with desire and determination and as much as i fucking hate cliches i think he has both and still can be worked on. Like I say, if we want to build a squad then im happy with having him as a £5/6m squad player. Relatively late? Terry was in his early 20's when Mourinho took charge. 24, no? EDIT: The point that I'm really trying to make is that defenders usually show the kind of world class promise at an early stage in there career - L King, Sulazeer, Woodgate, Ferdinand and Terry is an exception if i remeber correctly, was close to being sold. Not that im saying Taylor will be world class but he has potential to be a good defender is all. The only reason Terry was close to being sold (SBR tried to buy him) was because of the fact Chelsea were in dire straights financially. We also tried to get him on the cheap (£9 million) and were knocked back straight away. So what's your point, Taylor doesnt have the potential to be a good defender?! My point was clearly to point out the fact that you were clearly talking bollocks. Ok then, even though i dont remember Terry ever having the hype surrounding him that the likes of ferdinand/sol and woodgate got, would you like me to choose another defender who blossomed later on in thier career?! Would that make you feel better?

The 35m will be a curse but for different reasons in my opinion, my 'predicition' is that we'll see no way near enough of it spent and because of it the pressure will be put in in the stands, which will effect things on the pitch and Pardew will be made scapegoat for it. (Whilst im hoping for £10m net spend, im expecting a profit this transfer window)

Fucking topless Toon charvers worshipping Souness at the Owen unveiling was a gob smacking low in this club's history. In hindsight. Definitely at the time. As unlikely as I thought it was at the time, even if it had turned out ok, definitely. You thought signing Owen was a low for the club at the time? Yep, and the 'unveiling' was worse. Only enjoyment I got out of it was upsetting Liverpool, the media, and Owen himself in a cut your nose off kind of way. I'll agree with the unveiling and drama attached to the signing, I also will go as far as saying that his signing came in pretty insulting circumstances but for me it was a very very good signing, even with his dubious injury record he was a great signing. We needed a striker to eventually replace Shearer, I cant see too many reasons beyond his injury record to suggest that he couldn't do the job. It was set up for a fall though, probably most importantly given the insulting circumstances you mention. I agree he'd become a fine striker out in Spain - he went up a lot in my estimation of him as a player out there as I'd never had much time for him beforehand you see - but I still had him down as heartless, and someone who would let us down if less than absolutely everything went perfectly for us. It was like watching your dopey, dewy-eyed mate trying to convince himself he could make the local slut love him and 'stay true'. Painful and embarrassing. Relating to everything going perfectly, it was clear there were problems at the club that were going to be exposed with Souness as a manager, a squad not geared up for Owen's game, and financial problems only worsened by the shit himself's extremely costly acquisition. The whole saga of the move was emblematic of our fall towards being seen as delusional, fur coat no knickers messiah-lovers. With regards Shearer, I suppose I could say a lot of things, but among them would be I don't think we needed a replacement for him insofar as there are other ways of running a team. Just for the sake of argument, the prospect of a Bellamy-Kluivert partnership had looked half-way promising but it got dashed by the idea there had to be a 'main man' up front, and (at that time) it had to be Shearer. Maybe that slut was never going to love us, I can accept that but if that slut had a good record of 'putting out' on a regular basis then I can definintely overcomethe lack of love. Which is how I felt about the whole situation. Again, I agree that we were on a hiding to nothing with Souness in charge, but for me that's purely down to souness' lack of ability as a manager, a completely seperate issue to the merits of signing owen, although i suppose it can be argued that signing owen with souness' style of football was always bound for failre, i'd counter that by saying that most high calibre signings would of been deemed to failure with souness in charge. To be honest I agree with a lot of what you're saying but can;t agree that as a signing that Owen was a bad one, especially not a low for the club. He was a quality player with a proven track record at a good age, as far as im concerned they're good attributes to have in a potential signing - getting the best out of them lies in the abilites of the manager which is a completely different kettle of fish....

Milner was nowhere near the player he was at Villan hence he wasn't realising his potential at this club. Carroll was nowhere near the teamduring the souness/roeder days, N'zogbia is the same as milner and Krul hasn't really proved anything yet. Im nopt one of these taylor fans who's blinded by his avergaeness, my only point is that ive seen good enough performances in the past to suggest that there is a good plyer in him, in the right circumstances, and ive pinpointed those circumstances beingdown to the roles he's playing in defence.